Agencies struggle to deliver food
Supplies may be dropped from air
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (CNN) -- Ships unloaded thousands of tons of food at docks on Sumatra's east coast, but relief planners struggled to finds ways to get the supplies to the Indonesian Island's west coast and the 800,000 people who survived the disaster.
"It's the greatest and biggest aid effort in the world -- a scale never tried before," said Michael Elmquist, a deputy to the head of the U.N.'s Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Roads and bridges are washed out almost universally along the west coast, which was closest to the epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that launched the tsunamis and the hardest hit.
Elmquist said 50 tons of food has already been distributed throughout the province.
Another 400 tons of food has arrived in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, while 12,500 tons is waiting on the docks along the east coast, he said.
The food is enough to feed everyone in the province for six to eight weeks.
With communications disrupted and roads destroyed, relief agencies are considering dropping supplies from the air, Elmquist said.
A survey under way Monday should determine if that less efficient method is necessary, he said.
CNN Senior Asian Correspondent Mike Chinoy is in Banda Aceh and told CNN Anchor Charles Hodson Monday that Indonesian army crews were retrieving bodies from streets and water. (Mike Chinoy on the scene)
A water purification system, which is pumping out 20,000 liters of clean water an hour, has been established in the city by Australian authorities.
He said a massive relief effort was underway in the province, however, the biggest challenge for aid agencies was co-coordinating efforts and a lack of infrastructure.
"There aren't enough cars, there aren't places to live, there aren't enough translators, so coordinating an extremely complex operation is really the key," he said.
"The money seems to be there, the supplies seem to be ready to move in but simply getting all these pieces of this hugely complex puzzle to work is the challenge."
A British Royal Air Force C-17 plane is helping to support the United Nations operation in Indonesia and a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft is on its way to Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka, to deliver equipment to a reconnaissance team, the UK's Press Association reported Monday.
Two British military observation, liaison and reconnaissance teams have also been deployed, one to Colombo and the second to Indonesian capital Jakarta, PA said.
UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, due in Jakarta Thursday, said the region may take five to 10 years to recover and aid agencies said the clean-up operation alone could last many months.
CNN's Kim Noorgard in Banda Aceh contributed to this report.
"It's the greatest and biggest aid effort in the world -- a scale never tried before." 
